Beau

I fit solid wood worktops from time to time and always go for a butt joint. On a top of 600mm + you are probably going to get a fair bit of movement so this needs to be allowed for. I use some biscuits to keep alignment often glueing the ones near the front leaving the movement to happen at the back of the top but this depends on other things like up stands etc. Also some worktop connectors on the underside to keep the joint tight. Any mitre on solid wood will most likely open up over time as expansion or shrinkage causes the angle of the wood to change. You can do any desired moulding on the completed worktop with a router.

Much the same as John with a mix of Makita and DeWalt. I've been a bit underwhelmed with the Titan SDS drills torque considering it's weight but for the money its great.

You can get replacement motors for a lot less than a new unit if nothing else is wrecked

Our 7kw model has not suffered any drop in pressure in normal running but we've only had it a year. I hadn't noticed it mentioned on the owners group but then I've not been looking out for it either.

For those of us in very exposed locations when is the water going to get out? We get periods were you get several months were it rains most days and walls hang wet throughout. Our barn was like this and after a few weeks of wet weather the water would run down the inside of the wall. Ended up tanking the inside and lime pointing the outside which worked perfectly. John I have no magic answers sadly. On my workshop which has porous render and pointing I used some Thompsons water seal. It worked for 4 or 5 years but now needs doing again Old buildings can be a PITA

Just done a couple of new showers in our place. I put the tray on the ply with no tanking, because as you say, water really shouldn't be getting to it anyway. Also, I didn’t want the flooring in while I'm still bashing around with shower panels, toilet pans, etc. Fixed the tray down with OB1, which is much like CT1, and used some levelling packers as the floor was not quite perfect. I had a Mapei tanking kit but had problems, as the tape wouldn't stick to the shower tray — remedied it with more CT1. I had enough tanking to cover the whole area, not just the joins, so I did the whole area anyway. Having used these tanking kits in our old place nearly 20 years ago and never having a leak, I trust them.

Could be the old Hep20 fittings. I will look in our odds and ends bin to compare as I think I have some laying about

Just popping back to this now we have the heating on. I'm pleased to say the replacement of these sections of pipe has made the system much quieter. Not silent but not intrusive like it was before

We had a nightmare trying to organise a new line through BT but in the end got it done through the Post Office. I see they have sold that part of their business to Shell Energy who might be able to sort your new connection. I think Openreach do the work regardless but Openreach were not the problem in our case. We are in a rural area with poor telephone lines. Some have gone for Starlink and others Airband. We went with Airband based on price and no Elon Musk but not sure how widely available their service is

News to me. I have the 'Handbook of Hardwoods' an HMSO publication. These are oaks in it. American Red American White European Holm Japanese Turkey I always find it amusing that Balsa is a hardwood though

The last one sprung a sudden leak making a right old mess. Probably 15 years old at the time. Had a second hand one laying about which I popped in. I stumbled on a thread somewhere with lots of guys saying new ones were rubbish and only lasting 5-7 years. Good to hear maybe they are not as bad as that thread made me think. Yes the system has inhibitor on it

We are losing pressure on our GSHP based UFH system. I have been unable to find any leaks so guessing its the expansion vessel which is an old second hand one anyway. Is it worth splurging on a stainless replacement as I hear the steel ones have a pretty short life these days? Thanks

Our ground looked appalling but on the recommend of a friendly landscaper we seeded it up. Within a season a we had a lovely green lawn. Honestly I could not believe how well grass could grow on what was basically subsoil.

In which case whats the point? Silicone works just looks poor when it has to be thick, least it does when I do it haha

Nice idea if it works. I hate sealing around toilet pans and it never looks good

Yep, go for high cast acrylic. Perspex yellows quite quickly IME and polycarbonate is mighty expensive and doesn't have the same clarity.

Just for balance we have PIR boards between the rafters with multifoil below and have been delighted with how easy the place is to heat.

Obvious when you think about it but just something I overlooked until yesterday. We live and learn as they say 🙂

Thanks for the suggestions. Mine were Fire Angel with the a built in 10 year battery so not cheapies but they haven't managed a year. I was just wondering if dust gets into them can that mess them up long term? I'm doing major renovations and at times the house has been full of dust, once quite fairly triggering the smoke alarm.

Having problems with pretty new stand alone ones as they go off for no reason so both have been removed to aid sleep. Clearly I need to sort some new ones pronto but dont want this nonsense again. Are any stand alone ones good or do I need to fit hardwired ones to get reliability? Thanks

I work outside a lot and always have a keen eye on the weather. Different weather services can give quite different takes even at short range as there are several weather models and they dont all use the same one. When things look iffy I resort to the rainfall radar from Netweather to see if I have an hour two's dry weather ahead but no help if you are planning a day ahead. https://www.netweather.tv/live-weather/radar Over time you get to see some patterns that help with localised conditions more than the forecast. For us a few showers from the SW often ends up with train of showers for much of the day. On the other hand when we get forecast rain/snow from the east I can be pretty sure it wont amount to much as the moors blocks it but the forecast doesn't allow for that.

Might be worth scrolling through the Hettich and Hafele catalogues https://web.hettich.com/en-ro/products-eshop/handle-collection#/ https://www.hafele.co.uk/en/products/handles-knobs/10/

On this map you can get a good idea of who at least fits efficient systems in your area https://heatpumpmonitor.org/map

For the time being I have just run a conduit from the back of the mirror to the light switch and fan isolator in the bedroom. If it needs a switch/fuse/other the sparky can add one later

Morning all I cant get hold of my electrician at present so hope you can help. We have a zone 2 bathroom mirror that needs a power supply. I realise this will come from the lighting circuit but dont know if it needs an isolation switch, fused spur or something else. The lighting is on a new RCD protected circuit and I can have connection outside of the room the other side of the stud wall. I'm keen to get the wiring in place as I want to board up the stud wall ready for the plasterer. I should add my sparky is pretty hands off and is happy for me to do all the donkey work as long as I get it right haha. Thanks